


Found

by I_rely_on_you



Category: Fate: The Winx Saga (TV)
Genre: Angst, Death, F/M, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Minor Character Death, Mutual Pining, Suspense, au-ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29122773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_rely_on_you/pseuds/I_rely_on_you
Summary: Kind of an AU. Takes place somewhere after Saul has recovered from his wounds inflicted by the Burned One. Farah went missing. No one had heard from her in over five hours. Her Specialist goes on a mission to find her.
Relationships: Farah Dowling/Saul Silva
Comments: 215
Kudos: 316





	1. The Search

**Author's Note:**

> Not my characters of course just playing with them a little. I love their dynamic on the show and I'm actively ignoring the last 5 minutes of the show for reasons. Self-preservation and all that. I wanted to explore these characters and their rich history. First fanfic so constructive criticism is very welcome. Hope you enjoy.

He had only just begun his lesson with his students for the day when he got the news. It was Terra who had gotten him from the training field. That in itself wasn’t unusual. It was her face that was tipping him off that something bad must’ve happened. Unlike her usual chipper persona Terra got straight to the point without so much as a greeting. 

“Something has happened. You are needed in the Greenhouse. Dad sent me.” The words came out in a quick succession. Her bubbly self nowhere to be found. It was all tight lipped and stiff posture. So unlike her it was scaring him more than the actual words she was saying.

He got off the raised training mat and threw his training stick to Sky who had been standing a few feet over having heard the whole exchange. Sky caught the stick with no effort and gave a curt nod to his mentor signaling him he got the rest of the session under control.

Terra went ahead and Saul followed close by. “What’s going on Terra?” 

She tried to look ahead and not make eye contact. The whole situation felt off to the soldier.

“Dad didn’t say. He just told me to get you immediately.” She told him quickly. Her breaths coming out in short burst making him think she must’ve rushed to get him. “He’s in the Greenhouse waiting for you.” A short pause made him look up at her while continuing on beside her. “He looked scared. I’ve never seen him like that. I’m worried something terrible might’ve happened. But he wouldn’t tell me. Just rushed me out of the conservatory to get you as fast as possible.” She continued on.

Now he was really worried. If something had spooked his old friend it couldn’t have been good. Ben wasn’t easily scared either. Too many years on the battle field had made him harder, tougher than he was when they were all still the age of the teenager that was leading him right now. They had seen too much to be easily frightened. You don’t survive as long as they had if you didn’t grow more resilient.

It sent his mind reeling what could’ve possibly made his old friend send his first born to get him as soon as possible. That thought made him pick up his pace into a jog. Leaving Terra behind to pick up the pace in his wake.

They crossed the wide expanse of the training fields and into the courtyard of the school. Students were milling around on a quick lunch break or to get to their next class. It was as busy as any other day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for the Specialist Instructor.

When they rounded the corner to the greenhouse he could see Ben through the window ruminating around the place in a hurry. As soon as Saul stepped foot into the wide space of the room that housed more than a million of different plants and flowers he could feel the stress coming off of his long time friend in waves. Ben looked as put together as always but his face was scrunched up into a scowl. His eyebrows drawn together in concentration. When he heard the Specialist enter he looked up quickly and Saul could see it in his eyes. Ben was worried. Something was definitely wrong.

“Thank you, Terra. I need you to get Sam right away and get started on a fresh batch of Zanbaq. Use my office. You’ll find all the equipment you need in there.” He pressed out in one quick breath.

Terra nodded quickly and took one long look at her father before turning around and started walking toward the school in search of her brother.

Saul looked at Ben still grabbing containers and vails putting them in a bag. “What’s going on Ben?” his old friend looked up and fixed him with a look he hadn’t seen on the man in over a decade.

“It’s Farah.” he said quickly and quietly. Rushed. Breathing heavier by the minute it seemed.

Saul stood stock still. Not having expected that to come out of Bens mouth he stepped a little closer to the desk the botanist was working at.

“What is it? Where is she?” Worry evident in his voice.  
“I don’t know. That’s the problem.” As he said this Ben started packing his previously assorted ointments and fluids into a nearby bag.  
“What do you mean? Isn’t she in class right now? I saw her leave for her 8 o’clock lecture this morning.” He gave back, confused as to where this was going.  
Without looking up Ben replied, “Have you seen her since?”

Now it was the Specialists turn to scrunch up his eyebrows in confusion. “No, I have not.”

Grabbing some rolled up bandages and some sterile compresses Ben said “Neither has the entire school.”  
The air in Sauls lungs seemed to escape him in one quick breath. He didn’t like where this was going. Farah wasn’t one to skip her lectures for any other reason than there being an emergency. And since he hadn’t heard of anything unusual in the last few hours since having seen her this morning he hadn’t thought to check up on her. He had no reason to. Not that that has stopped him from checking up on her every once in a while without there being a reason behind it, he hadn’t done so today.

“What do you mean?” He was confused and his face scrunched up even further.

Ben packed even more gauze into the bag which was starting to fill up at this point. “She never got there this morning. Students have been looking all over the school for her and nobody could seem to find her.” He paused for a beat to look into Sauls eyes knowing that this was as unusual as it ever got with Farah.  
The Headmistress of Alfea was a constant fixture in the school. If she wasn’t in class she would walk the corridors talking to students taking up her duties as a counselor for her young and gifted protegees. It was very unusual to not see her roaming the many floors and winding corridors or even the training grounds of the old school.

Knowing full well that Ben wasn’t one to alert him if he hadn’t checked her office and the various secret pathways the trio knew about already Saul knew this was serious. 

“Who saw her last?” the soldier in him got straight to the point. Ben didn’t seem fazed by this in the slightest. The botanist looked up sharply and replied, “You did.”  
At this the Specialist took half a step back in shock. “That was over five hours ago! You’re telling me no one has seen her since I saw her leave for class this morning?”  
“That’s right. Aisha said Farah hadn’t come into her office the whole day. I found out when Musa and Bloom came to find me to inform me that she hadn’t come to class yet. We have been looking everywhere. The stone circle, the hidden passageways beneath the school. We even took a walk around the barrier to see if she had ventured out there alone to look for the Burned One. Nothing.” Knowing the school grounds and the vastness of the land surrounding it Saul could understand why it took them so long to search everything. And knowing Ben he knew he wouldn’t have gotten him in such a hurry if he hadn’t exhausted every option beforehand.  
Without wasting another minute, the Specialist nodded and said “I’m going to gather a search party. We will leave in 10 minutes. Stock each and every one of the soldiers up with Zanbaq. We don’t know what condition we will find her in.” with that the Headmaster turned around to leave the greenhouse.

True to his words he had assembled a group of 40 of his best Specialists to start the search. Each member of the party was carrying their usual sword and dagger as well as enough unguent to bring down a hippopotamus.

The group set out to start their search with spanning out around the edge of the barrier that surrounded the school. The radius was big with no more than a few hundred yards between each soldier. The space separating them getting bigger and bigger the further they ventured into the forest.

Instructions were very clear. Search and rescue if needed. They were sent out with the order to return as soon as the sun would start to set to not leave them wandering the forest at nighttime. 

That’s what Saul had been doing the last couple of hours. Carefully picking his way through the thick underbrush of the forest he hadn’t encountered another soldier nor had he come across a Burned One yet.

Seeing as the sun was beginning to set Saul was starting to get agitated. The team and him had searched in a perimeter of 15 miles outside the barrier.  
They had been covering ground quickly and efficiently. But it wasn’t an easy feat as the ground was uneven and the forest a thick mixture of evergreens and gangly looking trees that had already lost half their coat to the early onset of winter. 

Nonetheless the Specialist had ventured further and further into the forest surrounding the school grounds. He was well aware that he had distanced himself quite a lot from the other people of the search group. 

That didn’t stop him from going further though. He knew that if something had happened to Farah the chances were high, she wouldn’t survive the night. If she was even still alive at this point. At that thought he willed his mind not to go down that path and to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, all the while keeping a sharp eye out for anything unusual. 

As he was stepping around a small ravine, he noticed something in his periphery and stopped to turn around. There on a branch of an old and partially rotten tree hung a piece of fabric. 

As he got closer to investigate, he noticed that it wasn’t just any piece of fabric. It was a piece of a scarf he knew all too well. It was one of Farahs he had seen on her on multiple occasions. Stepping up to the trunk of the tree he reached out toward the blue and white material that hung at around roughly the height of his sternum to pluck it from the moldy tree.

As he was looking at the cloth, he noticed it had smears of a black substance and a few droplets of blood on it.  
His whole body tensed up in the realisation that it was most likely Farahs blood he was looking at. The shock only lasted a few seconds as the soldier in him started to concentrate on his surroundings again. 

He took note of the tree trunk that seemed to have grown over with moss quite a bit. But there at the base of it some of the moss had been scuffed off and the soil right in front of his feet looked disturbed. It looked fresh. Something or someone had brushed up against this tree recently and the height of the graze in the moss looked to be the height of Farahs shoulder.

Looking around the Specialist could not see anyone or anything nearby but as he was standing at the side of a small incline his view was partially blocked by the stone formation right next to him.

Without looking he stuffed the piece of shawl into his front pocket of his pants. Carefully maneuvering around the slope of the ravine he sidestepped a few rocks and made his way down the stony path.

As soon as he jumped down from the last big rock and landed in front of the little overhang of stone and mossy greenery. He took a look to his left to peer into the little alcove nature had created beneath the rock spur he had seen from above. 

And there she was.

Curled in on herself Farah was lying on her side pressed into the little niche of stone. With her back pushed back as far as the rocks would allow, he could only make out a little of her face as it was partially covered by shadows from the surrounding branches and leaves that were handing over the entrance of the alcove. But he knew it was her the moment he laid eyes on her.

He rushed to her side all the while being careful to not trip over any of the sharp stones lying around. As he got to her side and was about to touch her knee, she startled awake and put her hands up in a protective motion and he could make out her gleaming white irises as her powers came alive.

Without realising who he was she created a small energy field around herself that pushed him away with such a force that he was flung back a few paces only to land on his back on a patch of grass that was growing right in front of the stone formation at the bottom of the slope.

The forceful push had him wheezing as he was lying on the ground trying to find his bearings. Without another second to regain his composure he pushed to his feet again and approached the frightened woman he had called his best friend for the better part of 30 years. 

With a calming voice he called out to her in a hushed whisper to not draw attention to them to anything that might be still lurking around.  
“Farah it’s alright. It’s me, Saul.” As he was stepping closer to the little alcove again he could see her trembling with the effort to keep her protective barrier up. “Farah it’s me Saul, lower your shield Farah.” He saw the recognition settle into her glowing eyes as they turned back to their natural rich brown color. 

He saw the shield around her dissipating and her body sagging in on herself as if the last ditch effort of protection had drained her powers completely.

He didn’t need more of an invitation before sprinting the last remaining distance separating them to reach her side. Sinking to his knees before her prone form he touched the leg closest to him and leaned across her body to reach her face with his other hand. She didn’t startle once she knew it was him and started to tremble more once his calloused hand touched her cheek to make her look at him.

Her frightened deep brown eyes landed on his face, quickly scanning every feature before gripping his jacket and pulling herself up into his arms. Her trembling body pressed herself as close to his as humanly possible as he enveloped her into his arms and pulled her further into his body.  
His rough breathing fanned out over the top of her disheveled hair. Putting the hand that was not holding her around the middle to her head he felt her tears leak out between his fingers as she shook with haggard breathing and muffled sobs.

“I got you, I got you.” He whispered over and over again until her trembling let up enough for him to loosen his grip on her slightly to take a look at her face. With the hand that had held her head to his neck he angled her face into the last remainders of daylight to catch a glimpse at her bloody face.  
There was a cut right above her right eyebrow slicing all the way over her temple and into her hairline. It was still oozing a little bit of blood but had mostly stopped bleeding. 

Her whole face was dirty with streaks of mud all over her cheeks and forehead. Her clothes were ripped at places and he could already see the black veins on her skin alerting him to the fact that she had indeed encountered a Burned One.

In one swift movement he dislodged her from his close embrace to paw at his front pouch near his right hip. He unfastened the zipper and took out a little vail of Zanbaq. As he popped the lid with his thumb he took her face back in his hands and tilted her head back a little to pour the amber liquid passed her lips. Despite the terrible taste she swallowed the unguent quickly and her breathing set to a more regulated pace almost instantly. As the medicine started to push back the infection he could see the black edges around her eyelids disappear. Breathing out a tiny breath of relief he enclosed her cheek again with his broad hand to make her look at him.

Refraining from the sudden urge to pat her down he opted for the softer approach “Where are you hurt?”.  
Letting out a big breath of her own she looked in his eyes seeing the fear cloud his vision. She hated the fact that it was her that put that look in his eyes. But the pure joy of having him here with her outweighed the dread of the situation in her mind.

“It got me in the ribs.” She pushed passed her tightly pressed lips as the pain still flared up her side. He could see how much the effort of even talking to him strained her.

Taking a quick look around their surroundings and deeming it safe for the moment he pushed her off his lap a little to get a better view at her body. Her blue trench coat was almost completely drenched in the black substance affiliated with the Burned Ones. As he pushed the fabric to the side he sucked in a gasp as he saw what lay beneath it.

Her white silk blouse he had seen her in walking the halls this morning was almost completely ripped and was hanging from her midriff by a few bloody shreds. He could make out the deep gashes he knew were from the beast’s claws. He could not make out the whole extend of her wound in the position they were in but what he could see made him shudder.

Four claw marks were spread out over her rib cage almost spanning the size of her whole flank. And they were deep. So deep he knew he would probably be able to see the ribs poking through if he looked a little closer. Pushing down another shudder he looked back at her face and found her looking at him with a pained expression. 

Her tears had already started to dry on her face. He knew they weren’t from the pain but rather from the shock of him having found her out here. The woman had a pain tolerance that was greater than his own. She had gone through the same training as he had back in their time on the force. He knew what she was capable of enduring.

With another deep look into her eyes he grabbed her face and put his lips to her forehead breathing out a big puff of relief. Kissing her forehead he suddenly felt like he could breathe again for the first time in over 6 hours.

She gripped the lapels of his jacket again with a fierce strength he wouldn’t have thought she still possessed. As she pressed her face into his neck to nuzzle the underside of his jaw they breathed in unison and he felt the stress and tightness in his shoulders fall away. Even her still trembling body had relaxed a little more into his arms as she lay draped over his front and legs.

After a little while of breathing together he pushed her back gently to lie her on her not injured side and got back on his haunches to start on her wound. Bowing over her like this he could see how frail she looked. Her thin form having begun to shake again at the loss of contact and body heat his frame had provided. She had always been lean but strong in his eyes. So strong. Seeing her like this made his heart ache in a way he never felt before.

He swiped a hand across her abdomen to assess the actual size of the marks. Pushing back the almost completely useless silken garment he swallowed his fear for the fairy and said “I need to wrap this up. I will put some more Zanbaq onto the wound to try to speed the healing process up but we need to get you to Ben ASAP. I can’t see if there is still something of that creatures talons lodged in there or not.” 

Shuddering at the thought of there being anything stuck in her wound that could lead to further endangering the woman before him he pulled another two vials of the unguent out of his pocket and turned back to her still form.

She was looking at him with hooded eyes and he knew she needed medical attention beyond what he could give at the moment. But he also knew having had the Zanbaq on hand would be the only reason she could potentially get out of this alive. So he mentally patted himself on the back for insisting on equipping every soldier with it.

Crawling a little closer to her he knew what he had to do now and instantly dreaded the thought of it. Since the claw marks went all the way across her ribs and onto her back he needed to turn her on her side properly to be able to wrap her up.

Seeing the look in his eyes Farah knew what he needed to do and pushed her hand out from beneath her coat to grab his from where it lay on his thigh tightly grasping the vials containing the amber liquid that would help seal her wounds. As she clasped his hand in hers his eyes found her half lidded ones in the dusk that was settling all around them.

“It’s okay Saul. It’s okay.” She breathed out. Exhaustion clear in her voice. She gave him a tiny nod and he nodded back and set to work.  
Pulling some bandages out of his pouch he put them right next to her uninjured side on the open inner flap of her coat. He then crawled over her and rolled her body away from his and positioned his knee on the ground right behind her shoulder blades so she wouldn’t roll back on her injured side. He then proceeded to position his other leg in a 90-degree angle over on her other side of her body. His heel connecting with her stomach so she couldn’t move away from him once the pain from administering the unguent would start to seep through.

He took the little vial and the pipette that was inside one of the bottles and without further ado started to sprinkle the liquid onto her open side.  
Her reaction was instantaneous as the writhed and spasmed curling in on herself even more. Her hair fanning out into a brunette halo around her head on the dirty ground. He took hold of her shoulder and held her still as best as he could with the other hand still occupied with dribbling more of the liquid onto her skin.  
He heard her suck in a breath to steel herself for the rest of the procedure knowing fully well it was going to get worse before it got better.

The Specialist pressed his knee more firmly between her shoulder blades to straighten out her back again. He put his hand that had been holding her shoulder down on the place right above the wound and settled it on the white strap of her bra there, his fingertips barely grazing the side of the cup.  
As he got to the last scratch, he noticed she had pretty much stopped to move altogether. But he knew she was only passed out because he could see her breath push out in little foggy puffs of air every few seconds.

Once he was done with the Zanbaq he took the prepared rolls of gauze and started to wrap them around her middle. Putting additional compresses down on her wound to prevent from seeping through it took him a struggling 4 minutes to finish off the whole wrapping.

When he was done, he laid her back down being careful to only let her touch the inner side of her coat and crawled back over to her other side. He pulled down what was left of her blouse to cover the bandages a little. He knew she cared a great deal about her outer appearance, but he also knew she’d be more concerned with an effective field dressing than her partial nudity at this moment.

When he got back up to her face he also sprinkled a little bit of the unguent into the scratch on her forehead. Pushing her hair that had landed on her face during her thrashing out of her face he began to get to work on dressing her forehead with some compresses and medical tape. Once that was done, he gave her a quick once over to make sure he got everything. He then put his hands on her face again to gently rouse her with soft pats to the cheeks. He started to softly say her name in an effort to bring her back to him. It took her a little while to regain consciousness again.

But as soon as her eyes opened again, he was struck by the beauty of the brown orbs. He could barely see as the sun had gone almost completely down in the time it took him to dress her wounds but he could still see her eyes fixing him with a look that was as familiar to him as his own face. Her look of utter trust. He bent down closer to her face and kissed her on the forehead again. “You okay?” he muttered close to her ear.

“I’m fine.” It came out quiet and soothing in a way he knew was meant to make him feel at ease but he knew she was far from okay at this point.  
Nodding he looked at her again and scooted closer to her still so he could carefully gather her in his arms again. Laying against his chest once more she breathed a little heavier from the effort it took but he could see that she was as eager to move again as he was. They both knew they needed to get back to Alfea if they wanted to get through this in one piece.

“We can’t stay here for the night. It’s too dangerous with the Burned One still roaming about. We should start the track back out of the forest now.” He said it in a calm and contained manner that belied his fear of knowing what those creatures could do during the night while both the Specialist and the fairy were at their most vulnerable.

Farah mumbled something into his chest that he could barely hear because her face was pressed too closely to his jacket. “What was that?” he asked.  
The fairy looked up a little and with half closed eyes said “Burned Ones. Plural.” She said it in such an unconcerned tone of voice he was starting to think she might be losing consciousness again.

As if feeling his raised eyebrows she continued, “There were three and I killed two of them. As far as I know there’s at least one that I know of still here in this forest.”  
He let out a tiny snort at the indifference in her voice and she smiled a little as the puff of warm air left his mouth and passed over her cheek.

Pressing her face further up under his chin again, “Skimming a little too close to the edge of your head count aren’t I?” she said while pressing a smile into his skin.  
This time actually laughing out loud quietly he said, “Oh believe me, I don’t have a problem knowing the most powerful woman in all of Alfea beat my record of killing Burned Ones.”

At that she let out a very small and quiet giggle that vibrated through his neck it warmed him from the inside.  
Basking in the moment for a beat or two he looked around them to see if he could still navigate with the little light still peeking over the horizon. Figuring the beginning of the night would still cast enough light to find his way he began to get up from his crouched position but didn’t let go of Farah in the process. If anything, he pulled her even closer than before.

“Can you stand?” he asked quietly. She nodded silently into his throat and he helped her stand up.  
Still very wobbly on her feet he tucked her under his arm, bundled her up as best as he could and started to move them in the direction of the school.

TBC

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think.


	2. The Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They needed to get out of this forest. And fast. It seemed like it wasn’t just the Burned Ones they needed to worry about anymore. This was something different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the second chapter folks. A little shorter than the first one but I wanted to get it out as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy. As always I don’t own the characters I’m just borrowing them to play around with them a little. Mistakes are mine though 😉 if I made any huge spelling errors or mucked up some of the grammar feel free to point me to them seeing as English is not my first language I sure like to learn from my mistakes.  
> A special thanks goes out to my good friend Laura for making me find the courage to write and publish for the first time. This is for her.  
> Also feel free to visit my Tumblr for more Farah/Saul content. You can find me under the name I-rely-on-you  
> I will be linking each new chapter on there as well.

The climb up the ravine had been a struggle to say the least. The combination of the uneven terrain and darkness was proving to be a difficult challenge with the very unsteady fairy under his arm. 

Each step forward she seemed to struggle more and more to find her footing. By the time they made it up the stony little cliff she was panting and sweating profusely from the exertion.

He had hoped once he had gotten her up the steep hill and onto some more even ground, she would get her bearings and be able to walk a little more steadily. But that was not the case. 

Deciding to try and get her talking to get her to concentrate more on him and not her faltering steps so much he asked, “What happened Farah?” lowly near her ear.

The mind fairy puffed out a small gust of air that sounded almost like a miserable sigh to his ears. Having known the woman for as long as he did, he could place the sound as something close to being distraught. Maybe even angry at herself.

After a few more stumbling steps she rightened herself a little to talk closer to his face “After…” she trailed off. Clearing her throat, she tried again, “This morning I was on my way to class and I got a sudden feeling something was wrong.” She rightened herself again and continued to move forward.

“It was like a tickle of power. I hadn’t felt anything like it in so many years and I knew it couldn’t be Rosalind, so I decided to take a quick walk around the far side of the barrier.”, his grip on her tightened a little at this.

She let out a harsh whoosh of air like a self-deprecating little laugh. “Looking back at it now, I know it sounds foolish, but I just wanted to make sure.” He could understand that. He of all people understood the immense pressure she was under as Headmistress of Alfea. Protecting the students of this school was a burden they both carried.

“After what almost happened to Bloom in the other realm…” trailing off again they walked a few more paces before she started talking again. “I needed to know it was an isolated incident. So when I got to the barrier I didn’t think I would actually feel anything out of the ordinary. I wouldn’t have come out here on my own if I had known. You have to believe that.”

He did. He knew Farah Dowling was a lot of things. Reckless wasn’t one of them.

But he also knew she was not an impulsive person. So whatever had her spooked this morning must have been something she hadn’t encountered in a long time.

Nodding so she could feel he had understood he steered her on. Being careful not to touch her injured side he wound his arm a little more securely around her hip as they were steadily covering ground each step at a time.

She kept quiet for a little while after that. They managed to walk maybe two more miles in companionable silence before she began talking again. “I felt it Saul.” 

He could hear the worry in her tone of voice. He didn’t like it one bit. A worried Farah meant it was a real tangible threat. Years on the force together had him trusting his partner implicitly. He would follow her into battle blind. And they made a good team. Always have.

“Do you think it’s the Burned Ones?” he wondered out loud. Feeling her head shake confirmed his suspicions. A third party then. An outsider trying to breach their defenses maybe. 

“They don’t feel like that. Burned Ones feel hollow. They feel empty. This being or whatever it is, doesn’t feel empty at all. They feel…” trying to grasp for a word that would describe them best had her falter a little in her steps again, but the Specialist pushed her on. He needed to get them out of this forest as fast as possible even if it meant pushing her to her limits.

They were stepping over some fallen branches when he heard something to their far left. The way Farah tensed beside him let him know she heard it too.

Stopping in their movement they both looked over to where the sound had come from. But the poor lighting of the few stars visible in the sky only made them stare into deep darkness. They couldn’t see anything apart from the trees and shrubbery surrounding them. 

Unsheathing his sword with his right hand he angled Farah more so that he was standing between her and the sound his weapon held firmly in front of him.  
They stood stock still. The only sound you could hear them making was her choppy breathing and him breathing evenly though his nose.

Beginning to think they had imagined things or that an animal was roaming around nearby Saul began to lower his weapon just as another sound could be heard. Behind them this time. 

Swinging around quickly, weapon at the ready they couldn’t make out what could’ve possibly made the noise. It sounded far away. Like an echo in the forest. The sound was so unusual to their ears it took them a while to discern what it could be.

“Did that sound like wings flapping to you?” the swordsman spoke lowly and quickly.

Farah was still staring unblinkingly into the darkness. He could make out her shining eyes in the moonlight as she was trying to focus on something far away. She grabbed onto the front of his jacket as her eyes started to glow in the dark before closing them to concentrate on their surroundings.

He estimated that they hadn’t been able to cover more than 5 miles by now so he knew if they needed to start sprinting, it wouldn’t be long before they ran out of steam. They would not be able to outrun whatever this was they were facing. Not with the mind fairy at his side being this injured at least.

“It is not a Burned One.” the fairy next to him breathed out.

Looking down at her he could see her scrunched up eyebrows and the concentrated look on her face. It looked like as if she was trying to reach out to whatever it was that was tracking them.

Before long, his friend started trembling again with his left arm still wrapped around her. The exertion making her pant out little puffs of air into the quiet night.  
“It is not from here. It is seeking something it seems. I can feel it’s mind reaching out toward mine.” She said quietly with a lot of strain in her voice. The communication was clearly taking a toll on her.

Ever the cautious soldier he said “Be careful Farah. We don’t know if it’s hostile or not.”

Nodding the fairy pressed a little closer to him and fought to control her powers leaking out of her in the vain attempt to get some answers. “It doesn’t want to hurt us. But it is angry. There is so much rage there. I can feel it boiling under its skin.”

Trusting her instincts the soldier stood up a little straighter but lowered his weapon so his sword was pointing at the ground in front of them.

Upon lowering his weapon, they heard the flapping sound again and it seemed to get farther and farther away from them. But just as he was about to breathe a little easier, they also heard the unmistakable sounds of something screeching in the dark. They both knew this sound by heart. Having heard it so often during their days fighting.

Without wasting another precious second the Specialist sheathed his sword again, grabbed onto Farah and started a shuffling half run in the direction he knew the school was located in.

The mind fairy was still holding onto his front and waist but her breathing got harder with each meter they managed to put behind them. The only reason the Specialist hadn’t picked her up yet was because the sounds the Burned One was making were still far away. It didn’t even sound like it was gaining on them making him believe it might not have picked up on their scent yet.

They continued on with their fast-paced walk and Saul was sure they were making headway by now. 

They didn’t talk mainly because they feared it would be easier for anything out here with them to make out where they were. So they struggled in silence. Sometimes fast walking sometimes almost running. 

They were making their way around the bend of a fallen tree when Farah stumbled, and her knees buckled making her almost hit the ground if it hadn’t been for the Specialist holding on to his partner for dear life.

Pulling her up to her full height again he could hear by the sound of her breathing that she couldn’t go on anymore. He was surprised she even made it this far on her own feet seeing how far the extend of her injuries went.

Dislodging her from his side he quietly said, “Up you go.” In a hushed tone before bending down a little and sweeping her feet from under her.

If the fact that she didn’t protest hadn’t tipped him off, the pained sound she made upon settling against his chest would have. It was up to him to get them the rest of the way out of the forest now.

Gripping tightly onto her legs and back he began his jog through the thick foliage. Fortunately, the fairy wasn’t very heavy for her size being a tall and lean woman which made it easier for him to keep his balance while he ran.

He could still hear the occasional screech or howl in the distance but neither of the noises he heard seemed to be coming from nearby. If anything, he seemed to distance himself from the noises the creatures were making.

It made him breathe a little easier knowing they weren’t in immediate danger from getting sliced open by the multiple Burned Ones he could hear all over the dark forest.

Being a fighter in nature the mere idea of running away from the danger would have usually made him turn around to face his demons head on. Having fought for so long he would’ve thought it would feel odd to be running away from the fight when it seemed that all his life, he had been running towards it. It felt unnatural for the soldier in him to not stand up to his opponents. To not turn around and end the chase. But right now, fighting was the furthest thing from his mind.

He didn’t care that he was running away from a fight this time. He would not seek out the battle if it meant she would get a chance at surviving. He ran and jumped over anything in his path. Having kept up his speed he was surprised to see the trees thinning up ahead. It meant he had been running for at least 35 minutes straight now.

The cries that could still be heard in the night fueled him on even further. He knew that if he went down now, they wouldn’t make it. He could just see the clearing a few yards before him. Clutching the fairy harder to his chest he ran as fast as his tired feet would allow.

At this point his calves and lungs were burning and it was getting harder and harder for him to breathe. He knew this was his limit.

Without looking back even once he ran like the wind and just as he was about to cover the last few feet separating them from safety, he heard it again. The flapping of the wings.

As if the sound spurred him on even more he pushed up one last forceful time and jumped the remaining distance through the shimmering glow of the barrier.

He hit the ground hard with his back, having turned so that the injured fairy wouldn’t get crushed beneath him they tumbled down the stony slope at the edge of the forest. The sound they made upon impact was deafening to his ears in the quiet of night. 

Panting and groaning from his position beneath the unconscious woman he sat up a little and took hold of her prone form. She was out cold. Gathering her a little more firmly to him he placed a hand on her cheek and tried to look at her face in the moonlight.

Her eyes were closed and there was a sheen of sweat covering her brow. Other than that she didn’t seem to have gotten injured by their fall.

Blowing out a breath of relief he spanned his hand over the side of her head and pressed her face to his throat.

As he was looking up to survey their surroundings, he could make out the disturbed rubble from where they came barreling though the barrier and down the slope. His eyes were tracking up the stony little bank they had come down from when his gaze fell upon a big dark figure standing just outside of the protective barrier.

His breath caught in his throat.

There in the faint glimmer of moonlight stood a huge lumbering shape of something. But it didn’t look like any normal person would with its hunkering form.

The silhouette of the creature was massive as it stood eerily still on top of the stony mound.

The Specialist couldn’t make out it’s face but he knew it was looking at him. Or more specifically at Farah.

Realizing this he pulled the woman in his lap closer to his chest.

The creature didn’t seem to like this as it sharply tilted his head up a notch to look at him now. There was a faint bristling noise to be heard before the lumbering form of the creature seemed to turn around. Before it could vanish completely Saul could make out the huge set of wings it seemed to be dragging behind itself as it vanished into the dark of the forest.

Pushing out the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding the Specialist sagged in on himself a little in relief.

They had made it.

TBC  
Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a comment to let me know if you liked this second chapter as well as the first.


	3. Not Out Of The Woods Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having managed to get out of the forest both the Specialist and the mind fairy need to figure out where to go from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was such a joy to write folks I hope you’ll like it as much as I do. As always the characters don’t belong to me I’m only borrowing them. Feel free to come and find me on my Tumblr and drop by my inbox to rage about these two idiots in love. My blog is called I-rely-on-you. I’ll be sure to post updates on there as well. Happy reading!

Pain was the first thing that registered in her mind when she started to come to. Not opening her eyes immediately but trying to get a feeling for her surroundings first the fairy winced at the pain flaring up her side. Sucking in a small breath she could tell where she was before even having opened her eyes.

The rich and musty smell of the greenhouse permeated the air like a familiar quilt wrapping itself around her tired shoulders.

She was home. 

They had made it.

Opening her eyes slowly she could tell she was alone in the little infirmary at the back end of the greenhouse structure. The soft glow coming off various light sources scattered all around the room gave off a warm and familiar feeling.

Looking out the window to her left she could tell it was almost dusk again making her wonder what time it was exactly. How long had she been out?

Appreciating the fact that she hadn’t been put on one of the stretchers in the center of the room but rather on the wide windowsill beneath the grand stained-glass windows overlooking the garden to the left of the school, she stretched a little before craning her neck to the side. She gave a small grunt of pain when she noticed her movement was pulling at the side of her wound and reverted back to her original position.

Taking inventory of her disheveled form she noticed a soft blanket draped over her body that had been pulled up to her shoulders. Picking up the corner of said blanket she could see that the silk blouse she had been sporting earlier had been cut right under her bust to make room for a new bandage. Peering down at herself she could see the black build up from her wound oozing through a little already.

She knew how this would end if they didn’t find the specific Burned One soon.

Being a woman that hated inactivity, she decided not to dwell on that thought for too long though. She pushed the blanket off of her in one swift movement and grabbed the window to pull herself up into a sitting position. The pain radiating up her side had her seeing stars for a moment. Hissing into the emptiness of the room it gave her a stark reminder of how severely injured she really was.

The noise of the sliding glass doors to the infirmary being pushed open startled her a little.

“You’re up!” said Ben in a surprised tone of voice while stepping further into the room. His hands were laden with gauze and vials of Zanbaq. She smiled up at him as he was approaching her and put the assortment of medical supplies on a little table close to the window.

The relief on his face was clearly noticeable as he was chancing a glance at her over his shoulder.

Fully turning around to her after having put down everything he had been carrying he grabbed a little swiveling chair from nearby and sat down close to her.

“You gave us quite the scare Farah. How are you feeling?” he asked while pushing the blanket further down to get a clear view of the bandage wrapped around her torso.

Always the pragmatic botanist, getting straight to the point without wasting any time she let him examine the wrapping that was beginning to seep through as a result of her getting up.

“Better.” Clearing her throat, she asked the question that had been sitting on tip of her tongue since having woken up alone in the infirmary, “Where is Saul?”.

Taking a pair of scissors in his hand Ben started to cut through the bandages at the front of her ribcage.

“He’s talking to Sky outside. They are getting together a group of his oldest trainees to go on a hunt for the Burned One that got you.” He said slowly and calculated knowing time was of the essence here.

Farah let out a small gasp of air as Ben started to pull the cloth from her side. The sticky black substance pulling painfully at her wound. 

Seeing the wound clearly for the first time herself she narrowed her eyes at the jagged edges of the deep gashes. The lowest one running all the way from her navel up to her waist. The highest one starting at the underside of her breast and wrapping all the way around to her back.

After a quick examination of the state of the scratch marks on his friends body the professor started cleaning first around and between the cuts and then proceeded to take a penlight off the tray to his right.

Shining the penlight into the second gash from the bottom he scrutinized the flayed open skin a little closer. After a short inspection he took a pair of medical grade tweezers off the table and gestured at Farah to hold the light just as he was doing.

Doing what she had been silently told she shone the light where the botanist showed her.

Bracing for the pain she knew was coming the mind fairy bit into her bottom lip to keep from accidentally crying out.

Ben proceeded to poke the tweezers into the open wound to grasp at the black talon still lodged inside her flesh. Farah could only clench her jaw and watch him trying to locate the foreign object through all the blood and black ooze.

Finally, she felt him seizing the claw and pull it out gently while trying not to break it in the process. Once it was out of her skin, he dropped it into a little bowl sitting on the silver tray.

Letting out a big sigh of relief she breathed in and out deeply a few times before she saw him grab the penlight and readjust her grip to shine it into one of the gashes further up.

Choosing this moment to join them in the room Saul stepped through the door and upon seeing her gnaw at her lower lip proceeded to make a beeline for his injured friend.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” the Specialist asked once he reached her side. He put a hand on her knee and looked into the black rimmed eyes of the fairy before him.  
Giving him a small smile that soon turned into a grimace once Ben started poking around the next gash again, she ground out “Better once he’s got all of those bloody talons out of my skin.”

Her voice was strained but strong. Not at all like the frail woman he had found in the forest over 18 hours ago. It made his heart beat stronger in his chest seeing as she was clearly in a better condition than the one, he had found her in.

Seeing her hand holding the penlight starting to shake, he grabbed the torch from her fingers and took up her job of shining the light into the wound.

Due to his close proximity the fairy didn’t know where to put her hands now that they had been relieved of their duties. To not get in the way of Bens work she opted for putting her right hand on Sauls shoulder and her left bunched up a handful of his sweater as the botanist to her left managed to pull out another black piece of foreign unguis from her side.

Feeling the ghost of another strangled breath pass over his cheek the soldier took his left hand from her thigh and reached around her not injured side in support and the fairy leaned into him almost instantly.

“That’s it, I think. The other two gashes didn’t have any particles in them.” Ben said quietly between the three of them. He then leaned back a little to get a few wipes off the table and started cleaning the wounds again. At this Saul clicked off the light and put it back on the tray with the other utensils.

“I must say…”, she trailed off a little “I had hoped you had already taken care of this part while I was out cold” the fairy told the botanist with an impish smirk on her lips. 

Letting out a small chuckle the earth fairy started to administer the Zanbaq onto the gashes, making the woman in front of him strain against the pain as the unguent did its job of pulling skin and deeper tissue back together.

“You remember the last time I did that? Cause I do. Still got a little scar at the back of my head from where I hit the column in the yard.” He gave back smiling at the memory of a younger Farah clad in training gear knocked out cold from the pain of a Burned Ones attack not unlike this one, many years ago. He had always been the medic of the group. Not much has changed in that regard. Except that he had learned from his mistakes.

He had foolishly believed he could pull out the talons while the fairy was still unconscious back then. Not being in full control of her powers while being out cold the mind fairy had thrown her friend halfway across the yard upon feeling the pain that came with the dislodging of one of those black spikes.

They had been lucky back then. 

Finishing up with the Zanbaq he put the empty vial back on the tray and took a few compresses and a roll of gauze into his hands.

Looking down at her wounds one last time Farah could see the tissue sowing itself back together slowly already. The unguent must have been a concentrated batch for it to work this quickly. For this she was very grateful.

Loosening the grip on her friend’s sweater she gave Saul an apologetic look which he dismissed with a click of his tongue and a look that gave her to understand that he couldn’t care less if she rumpled his garment.

Scootching back a little to give her more room to breathe the Specialist sat back on his haunches. Never fully relinquishing his hold on the fairy he kept a hand on her hip while the botanist wrapped their mutual friend in gauze. 

Once she was fully wrapped up again, she sat back a little and leaned her back against the window behind her. Tilting her head back she closed her eyes for a moment and without opening them again said “Thank you Ben.”

The balding man only nodded mutely knowing the mind fairy didn’t need to thank him, but her upbringing prevented her from forgetting the importance of being polite even in situations like this one.

He appreciated that about her. She didn’t need to thank him but did so anyway because that’s just how she was. An exceptional person on all accounts.  
Upon opening her eyes again, she fixed her gaze first on Ben and then on Saul.

Flashing her eyes in their startling silvery white complexion once, the mind fairy picked up on the shift in the room.  
“What did I miss?” she asked quickly and straight to the point. 

Sharing a look, the men before her seemed to think about what to say next. Standing up and letting his hand fall away from her hip, it was Saul who spoke up first. “What is the last thing you remember?”

Not having expected the question but knowing they needed to know where to pick up the story she answered truthfully “I remember running with you. And feeling exhausted and scared. I remember you picking me up. Nothing after that.”

Seeing the look on her long-time friend’s face made the headmistress frown. 

“What is it?” she demanded.

Shuffling his feet as if not knowing how to say what needed to be said the Specialist fixed her with a stare and said, “You missed out quite a bit then.”

Giving him a wry smile, she nodded at him to continue.

Ben chose this moment to hand her a glass of water and as if not having realized how thirsty she’d been, the woman started taking cautious sips of the cold drink relishing in the feeling of it soothing down her throat.

Squaring his shoulders, the soldier started to talk again, “After having managed to run for quite a bit you stumbled over a fallen tree we were trying to go around and couldn’t continue on walking after that, so I picked you up and started running again. I think around this point you must have lost consciousness again because you went limp in my arms.” He paused for a small moment as she took another sip of the water.

“I could hear more than one Burned One in the forest with us, but they were far enough away for us to keep running undetected for a while.” he said.

He shuffled his feet again and she picked up on one of his thoughts and startled so hard she spilled a few drops of her water onto the blanket still lying in her lap. 

Her eyes turned brown again “It wasn’t only the Burned Ones with us in that forest.” she concluded.

Nodding once his mouth set in a thin line. “No. It wasn’t just the Burned Ones with us out there.”

She remembered suddenly. Memories of strong wings flapping in the distance.

“I could feel it.” she whispered.

She remembered feeling its barely contained rage. And its power.

Bending down to crouch in front of her again he took hold of the hand not holding the glass of water tightly in her grasp he whispered, “I saw it Farah.”

Her black rimmed eyes widened a fraction as she took in his stern look.

“It was huge. I saw it standing at the edge of the barrier. We had just managed to make it through it in the nick of time.” he continued to stare at her unblinking eyes.  
“It had been following us Farah. It had been following you.”

Wrinkling up her brow in confusion she asked him silently what he meant by that.

He let out a small breath before explaining, “It had been looking at you. I’m sure of it.” Looking deep into her eyes he barreled on “I could only make out shadows because it had kept close to the forests edge and its features were obscured by the foliage surrounding him. But as soon as I shifted you in my arms it let out a very unhappy sound. It picked up its head and fixed me with a stare and then turned around and disappeared back into the forest.”

Humming once, the fairy before him blinked a few times and took another sip of her water. Placing her half empty glass on the little metal table she straightened up in her seat and looked back up at her partner.

“And you couldn’t make out what it was?” she asked in a thoughtful tone.

Shaking his head, Saul started to rise again “No”.

Still feeling a little lightheaded Farah put a hand to her forehead to massage her temple for a second, trying to take in all of the information before straightening out her back again, wincing as the movement pulled at her side.

Coming to a decision the mind fairy said “We need to go out there again and find that creature. We don’t know if it’s a threat to the school and its pupils. I can’t risk my student’s safety by leaving it roaming outside our barrier.”

Clearly being on the same page as the woman Saul nodded “We also need to find the Burned One who did this to you and its friends and kill them. We don’t know how long you can stand the infection.” he paused briefly to look down at her bandaged side before continuing “I’ve put together a group of my most efficient trainees to help with the search. We will set out a grid and comb the forest tonight. We are leaving in 15 minutes.”

Reaching up a hand to grab the window she pushed herself to her feet in one fluid motion that looked far too graceful for the pain she must be in, thought her Specialist.

“I should be coming with you.” The fairy said almost offhandedly while neatly folding up the blanket and stooping down to lay it on the spot she just vacated. 

Both men stood up straighter and rushed out a “No way!” and a “You should really not!” respectively.

Very slowly the woman before them straightened her back again to a perfectly poised posture that exuded authority and grace and fixed them with a glare that left no room for argument. 

Jutting out her chin in a prideful manner she fixed them both with an unimpressed look before saying, “Excuse me?” in such a nonchalant way it could’ve almost been funny if not for the graveness of the situation.

Not one for stopping while he was ahead, Saul didn’t waste any time on letting the blush that was expanding over his cheeks and neck get to him, “You’ve been severely injured Farah. You should rest up.” almost as an afterthought he added “And tend to your students.”

At this the woman narrowed her eyes at her close friend for playing this card, fully knowing the wellbeing and education of her students was her Achilles heel. 

Seemingly unfazed she said, “My students are in the very capable hands of our Professor of magical field training and potion-making. I’m sure Ben can hold down the fort for a few more hours. I am very sure of his capabilities to take over my classes for another day.” 

Stepping closer to his dearest friend the Specialist took Farahs right hand in his and looked deep into her eyes “Are you sure you’re feeling up to it?”

Staring back just as deeply she squeezed his hand once before saying “Yes.” in a not unkind manner.

Searching her eyes and finding no signs of doubt or uncertainness in them he nodded once and dropped her hand back to her side gently. “We’ll leave in ten.”

With that he gave a quick nod to Ben before turning around and marching in the direction of his small platoon waiting outside.

With a small grateful nod in Bens direction Farah also set out to leave in the direction of her office. But not before the words of her old friend stopped her in her tracks.

“Be careful out there. Keep each other safe Farah. I want both my best friends back in one piece.” He said it so lowly full of meaning it took her a moment to collect herself before turning around to face him again.

She looked at her good friend and confidant of more than 20 years and nodded. 

“I will keep him safe.” She said in an equally low voice.

He fixed her with a stare, not needing to say out load what he was thinking.

“We will look out for each other. I promise.” she assured him.

Nodding one last time he busied himself with cleaning up the mess he had created while changing her bandages.

Breathing in deep through her nose she let out a small sigh and turned around to set out to gather her gear.

They had work to do.

TBC

Thank you so much for reading. Please drop off a comment to let me know what you think of this one.


	4. Loyalty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After having decided on a plan of attack, they venture into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was harder than expected but I still hope you’ll like it. This is just a small filler for what’s about to come. I will be posting in longer intervals from now on since only getting three hours of sleep a night might not be as healthy as I originally thought :D Stay tuned for new chapters!  
> As always, the characters are just borrowed. I don’t own anything except any and all spelling errors you might encounter. Feel free to point me to them. Also come find me on tumblr if you’d like. My name is I-rely-on-you  
> Hope you enjoy and happy reading!

Always being one to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice, it didn’t take long for the soldier in Farah to get ready. It hadn’t come easy to the mind fairy in her younger days but having been on the force for so many years made it second nature to be able to get ready and leave for battle in a very short amount of time.

Having served under Rosalind for so many years had made her efficient. Calculated even, to get certain tasks done in an orderly fashion. With military precision. 

That being said she managed to grab her gear and get ready to leave in under five minutes. 

The Headmistress of Alfea met up with the small group of specialists waiting outside. 

Having donned tactical gear and a practical vest to keep out the cold that was sure to creep up on them the minute they set foot into the woods again, the mind fairy looked up to see Sky talking to Saul in a hushed tone.

Getting closer to the young man and his surrogate father they halted their conversation quickly making her believe it might’ve been about her. A raised eyebrow is all she gave them in form of question.

Clearing his throat Saul straightened up and put his hands behind his back as if standing at attention and said, “Sky is going to be accompanying us.” His tone of voice didn’t leave any room for argument.

Trusting her Specialist, Farah nodded once in acknowledgment of the decision. Knowing the man loved the teen like his own flesh and blood and would never let him accompany them if he didn’t have a good reason for it, Farah accepted the idea. 

Clearly having expected her to put up more of a fight the man looked at her for a moment to gauge her reaction. The fairy only raised her chin a notch to show him that she stood by whatever he would decide was best for the relative success of the mission.

Grateful for her trust in him and his leadership, Saul eased up on his rigid stance. 

Taking great care in emitting a friendly body language the mind fairy asked, “How do you want to do this?” all the while trying to sound as open as possible.

Realising she was trying to give him as much leeway as she could in this situation where both their positions as head of school could be fighting for dominance, he took out a map from his vests front pocket and showed it to her “We have marked a perimeter and have sectioned the forest off in a 15-mile radius around the school grounds since that was roughly as far out as you got before getting attacked.” 

Pointing to various spots on the map in his hands he continued, “So, we have to assume that they will still be roaming that area. Our priority will be finding the specific Burned One that wounded you. Anything more than that we can leave for another day to give you some time to recover.” 

Knowing his friend was about to interject he took his eyes off the map to fix her with a hard look that begged for her to interrupt him. Not raising to the bait Farah only blinked once and made no move to argue. 

This was his field of expertise. He was the leading authority in everything concerning tactics and combat.

Sure, from an outsider’s perspective it would seem that she was the one holding the reigns when it came to the decision making for the school and its inhabitants. But outside of said school he was the one running point. And she trusted his gut.

She would not argue with him on this topic because she knew their trust was a two way street. And she also believed he had the school’s best interest in mind just as much as she did.

Unbeknownst to the specialist the fairy had already made up her mind. 

Still fearing the headmistress was preparing for an argument, Saul straightened is shoulders again, folded up the map and put it back into his front pocket. He proceeded to get on with his explanation, “From then on out we can send out troops to pick off the rest on a daily basis. Rotate out the soldiers to not tire them out completely. We will need the manpower in the long run.”

Not waiting for Farah to get a word in edgewise he kept on talking, “We will get to them eventually. All of them. And since the barrier is holding strong, we should not be losing our heads now.” Thinking she still might not be fully accepting of what he was saying he adds “We have time. After. Right now, though, it is time to move out.” 

Still not waiting for her reply, he hollered for his troop to fall in line and proceeded to get them moving in the direction of where they had slipped back onto school grounds the night before.

Not being phased the slightest by his abrupt dismissal she falls in step behind him. Taking note of the formation his soldiers seemed to fall into all around her she had to hold back a smile.

The people milling around her forming an obvious pear-shape, encasing her in a protective bubble of defence. 

She knew what he was trying to do. And by the look Sky was giving her as he was walking right next to her inside said bubble, he also knew what his mentor was doing.

Seeing the young man walk beside her made her realise what had been the reason behind the trainee accompanying them in the first place. And why Saul had been adamant on choosing him of all people.

He trusted his son with her life.

The thought made her eyes water a little. 

Being the ever-attentive pupil Sky threw her a questioning look and very quietly asked “Everything alright Headmistress Dowling?”

Casting a quick glance to the front of the group but seeing that the teen had indeed spoken lowly enough for the leader of their group not to notice, she congratulated the boy mentally for his thoughtfulness. 

“Yes Sky, thank you for asking.” she placated the young man next to her.

Nodding the Specialist in training looked further ahead towards his father figure.

Turning back towards her once more he whispered, “He is worried about you.”

Knowing this the mind fairy nodded. “I know, Sky.” she replied kindly. 

Even if she hadn’t been able to feel people’s thoughts, she could have told you that her best and oldest friend loved her in a way that only a Specialist could love his fairy.

The bond between a fairy and their protector was a special one. It needed to be cherished and appreciated.

Not wanting to get emotional in front of the young man walking next to her she steered the topic into a different direction, “He is very proud of the man you’ve become Sky. In more ways than one, you are his second.”

Nodding again he lowered his head and looked at the ground in front of him. Looking up again he mumbled, “He wouldn’t have trusted me with this mission if I wasn’t.”

Farah noticed she hadn’t given the boy enough credit for his perceptiveness. It surprised her that this young soldier knew so much about the bond connecting his father and her.

Having watched him grow into the bright mind he was, Farah had always known Sky was a gifted student. In more ways than one. Not only did he excel at the art of combat but he was also very sharp-witted for his age. 

He was intelligent not only in mind but also at heart. He knew what it meant to honour duty. To follow orders and understand why they must be followed. But he was also intuitive enough to know, that every order had its limits. His most recent heroics proving just that.

His mentor and father figure might not have made it if the young protégé hadn’t taken matters into his own hands to find the Burned One that had struck him. 

She would forever be indebted to this young Specialist at her side.

Not being one that needed to fill a comfortable silence the warrior kept on walking close to her not saying another word.

He was so much like Saul it made her feel warm around her chest knowing he had been raised right.

Seeing as they were closing in on the position where they had planned on going through the barrier, the group started to come to a halt.

Turning around the Specialist leading them started talking with his gaze finding each face individually as he was swiping through the rounds with his eyes. 

“Remember the plan. I don’t want anyone venturing off alone. We have exercised this procedure about a million times in training. You all know what you need to do.” with that he turned around and went headfirst through the protective shield before him.

The little platoon followed his example silently.

As soon as they were all on the other side of the shimmering globe protecting their school, the soldiers took up position again like a well-oiled machine.

Dusk was settling all around them making the woods surrounding them seem even more threatening than during the day. The silence descending upon them making the situation seem even more eery than expected.

Something had changed.

The forest seemed devoid of life. Not only were most of the trees already bare of leafage, but it wasn’t just that. There were no noises coming from around them. No hooting owls in the distance or wild animals roaming the underbrush, no insects chirping. Nothing. 

Despite of the obvious signs that something must’ve happened to make all surrounding life just disappear the group kept on walking. Reaching deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Just like their leader the soldiers surrounding her had their hands on their weapons. Always ready to unsheathe their swords at the smallest sign of trouble. It gave her a feeling of comfort she didn’t know she had craved.

All of these brave men and woman were out here with her to protect her and to bring down the creature that had hurt her. It filled her with a certain sense of love.

The group managed to keep on walking for quite some time before the first signs of life could be heard in the distance.

They had been walking for around two hours now and the fairy could feel a weariness catching up to her. Her steps felt heavier than before and her posture was lacking its usual grace. It wasn’t as bad as the night before but there was a noticeable difference to when they had first started walking. Ignoring this she tried to be vigilant of her surroundings.

Suddenly the Specialist at the very front of the group stopped and raised his fist over his shoulder in a silent order for the group to stop walking.

After everyone had stopped in their tracks, Farah could hear what had made her partner lead them to a halt.

There was a faint growling sound carried by the wind. Every now and then the growling could be heard being accompanied by a shrieking that let everyone know what it was they were hearing.

Unsheathing his sword Saul proceeded to keep on walking at a more sedate pace. At this a collective sound of swords and daggers being quietly withdrawn from their sheaths could be heard as each soldier readied themselves for what was about to happen.

She could feel Sky stepping up closer to her so that they were nearly shoulder to shoulder. 

The mind fairy started to channel her magic, making her eyes glow silver in the dark. Concentrating on what was in front of them she tried to direct her focus past the beating life forms all around her to look further up ahead. 

“Saul.”

The way she said it made him almost turn around but his finely honed instincts for battle made him stay rooted to the spot, not taking his eyes off the threat in front of him.

“Yes?” he breathed only loud enough to carry all the way to the middle of the group where she was standing.

The headmistress squared her shoulders for what she was about to say.

“I can feel at least six of them, if not more.” she informed the man.

Breathing in and out deeply he nodded slowly letting her know he had heard her loud and clear.

She knew what he would do even before he started moving in the direction of the echoing cacophony of gargling shrieks and howls.

“Eyes sharp. Be ready.” was all he said before leading them toward the blood-curdling sounds.

TBC

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment and tell me what you think :-)


	5. The Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were faced with a fight they didn’t know they could win. But they needed to try. It was either that or losing his best friend. And that just wasn’t an option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small disclaimer: There are some bloody and rather gory scenes in this so beware.
> 
> One of the scenes in here is loosely based on the artwork by ladyofsketches who captured the moment beautifully and words cannot express how honored I am that my fic inspired her work. I strongly suggest you check out her Instagram and find out for yourself just how amazing she is!
> 
> I will be cross-posting this on my tumblr which is I-rely-on-you so feel free to check out my blog there and maybe even drop by my inbox.
> 
> Happy reading and I hope you enjoy 😊

The plan was simple. In theory.

The group of soldiers were to disperse and fan out to the sides forming a circle around their target group to be able to strike from all sides. They had used this tactic in dozens of battle exercises throughout the year. 

They knew the drill. They could walk through the steps blindfolded. And Saul would know. Because he had made them do that too.

As the group was fanning out the headmaster of specialists fell back to take his position at Farahs other side that was not occupied by Sky.

She could feel the tension and heat radiating off his body next to hers. His steady breathing a constant reminder that he was here with her. In mind and in spirit.

Saul was a skilled fighter and tactician, and she trusted his instincts implicitly. She had laid her life in his hands more often than she could count. Had fought right there alongside him for so many years it had sometimes felt like that was all there was to life anymore. They had endured and grown together. They still fought like a unit. She trusted him to have her back and he trusted her to get the job done. This wasn’t what was worrying her.

Her condition however, was.

Her injury would slow her down, but she had anticipated that.

Blindly reaching to her right she felt her way down Sauls leg toward his thigh strap sheath and pulled out the combat knife she knew he kept there. He kept it there on purpose. Always had since she had first done this move in battle 20 something years ago. He has since opted to attach a second holster on his other leg to accommodate for his partner.

It had long since become a familiar movement in battle.

She didn’t often use a weapon other than her magic in a fight, but it would be better to be prepared to take physical action since her powers were not at a hundred percent at the moment.

And of course, she had been trained in fencing and hand to hand combat by Saul himself. He had seen to her being fully prepared to take over for him should he actually not be able to fight anymore at some point during a fight. “You can’t only rely on magic Farah. Rely on your physical strength too. You may never know when you might need it.” he had said so many years ago.

Fortunately, it had never come to that during their days fighting together. She would dread the day she’d have to pick up his sword from the ground to defend him. But defend him she would. She would lay her life down to save his.

Recognizing her position in this attack, Farah knew it was up to the leading few soldiers to start the offensive and vowed to herself to not lose them altogether.

The pincer movement they were currently performing was a very tactical way to encircle the group of Burned Ones they were trying to hunt. It would give them the moment of surprise and they needed all the advantages they could get. It was a good approach Saul had picked out for them she would give him that.

The moment the first few specialists had managed to sneak past their objective to come at them from behind was the moment Farah struck.

Her eyes started glowing in her silvery hues when she lifted her hand and grabbed the first creature by the inside of its chest. She levitated it into the air a little to crush its torso and disposed of it in the same moment by throwing it to the far left of the group to not be in the way of the ongoing fight.

The way this simple movement she had performed countless times before, drained her of so much energy, it almost made her stagger a little. She regained her composure quickly but not before Saul noticed. Throwing her a side eyed glance he advanced toward the opponent closest to him and swiped his sword at it in one swift movement. The downstroke of his weapon only deterred the fiery being for a short moment before it lunged at him.

Having anticipated this move the soldier sidestepped the creature in three quick steps and swung at it from behind once more.

Before it could even try to make for him again, Sky came around Farahs other side to plunge his sword into the monster’s chest, hitting the Cinder inside it. They all saw the red glimmer in its center burn a little brighter before it extinguished altogether like a candle in a stormy night.

The troop leading the party had stared to join the fight as well. They had moved in from the back to meet the rest of the platoon in the middle.

The fight was in full swing.

Farah did her best to hold back any and all lunges any of the creatures made for the soldiers all around her.

There were 4 creatures in total still standing. More or less standing at this point since two of them had already gotten a few limbs sliced off by the well trained combatants surrounding her.

Non the less the few Burned Ones that were still standing put up quite the fight.

One of them sprang forward so fast the mind fairy could not hold it back quickly enough and she had to witness as the creature dove its talons through one of her student’s shoulders. The cry of pain sliced through the night like a warm knife through butter. 

The pained sound was so loud it covered the sounds of battle like a fresh blanket of snow almost drowning out the other noises surrounding it. 

Before Farah could do so much as lift a finger, the creature had already struck again at an inhuman speed and taken the wounded specialist down. It pounced on her like a wild animal. 

She could feel the life leak out of the young woman like the crimson blood seeping into the ground below her.

It was all over in the blink of an eye.

While the creature was busy celebrating its kill, two other young specialists came at it from two sides and carved the monster up. It was still lunging and swiping at them from its speared position on their swords. A third soldier had to ram his dagger into its head from behind to still in its movements long enough for another trainee to be able to impale its core with his sword.

The creature started spewing flames at the people standing close to it and eventually died with one last twist of the sword in its ribcage.

Another Burned One managed to wound a specialist that hadn’t paid enough attention to his footwork as he was trying to retreat from its flailing arms. 

Before the creature could struck though Farah had stopped the lunging limb mid air only to have another gifted soldier cut it off.

During this moment she hadn’t noticed an additional creature come crawling towards her from behind in such quick and hasty movements it was able to swipe at her calf so fast the headmistress went down, dropping to the ground next to it.

It descended on her in an awkward swaying movement so fast it made her let out a small, surprised cry. She was able to block one of its paws with her dagger and the other gangly hand with her left arm.

Having heard her surprised yell Saul turned away from the fight he was currently involved in to see his partner grapple the creature while it was crawling up her body to get to her head.

Its massive jaw making snapping movements at her face trying to bite her. She could just hold it back enough to not let its rotten and charred teeth sink into her neck.

Deciding that Sky and the two other young soldiers could fight the fifth Burned One on their own, Saul ran toward his fallen fairy.

Upon reaching her he grabbed the thrashing inhuman being by its neck and started to pull it away from Farah.

Still being trapped under its lumbering, smoldering form the fairy helped push the monster off and with their combined efforts managed to pull it far enough away from her to channel her magic to locate its Cinder and incinerate it with one strong squelching grip around it. 

The Burned One spat out some of its flames at them for a short moment before suddenly it stopped moving altogether only to collapse back onto Farah still lying on the ground.

Saul didn’t waste a second to shove its lifeless form off of her body. A few of his students rushing over to help him. They took the carcass by its legs and started dragging it a few feet away from their headmistress.

Picking up her head from the soil below her, her eyes connected with Sauls as he was hovering above her with his hands resting on his knees, panting.

Slowly swiping his eyes over the battlefield before him, Saul took stock of the people surrounding him, all in various stages of injured. 

And just like that the fight was over.

They had won.

More than half of his platoon was down. Most of them writhing and hissing at their wounds while the other still standing soldiers tried to administer first aid already.

It was a mess.

Looking back down at the woman in front of him he saw Farah had gotten up on her elbows to view the damage for herself.

The fairy had charcoal smudges down her face and neck as well as some bloody smears across her cheek and forehead where the creature had swiped at her face. It had dislodged the bandage that had covered the cut on her forehead and managed to make the tear in her skin look even worse than before with its added bloody streaks.

Her uniform was smoking a little at places where the Burned One had come into contact with her. 

Not seeing any smoldering embers on her body though, he decided to neglect a pat down her body to make sure she wasn’t burning in any places and went to kneel next to her instead.

Feeling his proximity next to her, the mind fairy turned her head and fixed her brown eyes on his face, looking him up and down. 

Not being able to find any outwardly damages done to her partner the headmistress laid her hand on his knee and the other one on his shoulder. 

He welcomed her touch and wound his arms around her body, pulling her close to him so that she was partially lying in his lap. Being mindful of her still injured side he squeezed her to him and breathed in her scent of charred flesh, sweat and blood and the unmistakable smell of old books and warmth that was unmistakably Farah Dowling.

He loved the smell of her because it reminded him of home.

Feeling her take in a shaky breath he noticed her fisting a handful of his jacket in her hand before releasing the breath from her lungs in one long exhale.

He felt his hand down her body over her bloodied side to her back. His other hand found its way into her hair and turned her head towards him to nuzzle his face into her skin and drop a kiss onto her bloody forehead.

Not even minding the coppery taste on his lips the slightest he turned his face up a notch to burrow his nose in her hair. This is how they stayed for a few minutes neither of them speaking. Just breathing each other in.

It was Farah who mumbled lowly into his jacket first, “We need to check on them.”

Pushing her face away from where she had pressed herself into the 3-day stubble on his chin and neck the fairy began to righten herself a little.

Looking over at Sky who he could see tending to one of his friends, Saul gazed back at the woman in his arms.

Taking stock of her injuries he began to push her away a little to get a better look at her.

The black rim around her eyes had vanished. 

With one big shaky exhale he realized the Burned One who had injured her in the first place must’ve been among the ones they killed today.

A weight suddenly lifted off his shoulders and the tension he hadn’t realized he had been holding in his body got released, resulting in him sagging in on himself and slipping from his position on his knees to sitting on his behind in the dirt, taking his friend with him.

Farah didn’t mind the change in position and accommodated him by organizing her limbs in a fashion that would allow him to still old her close but without being weighed down by her body weight too much.

Feeling the man holding her begin to tremble, she put her hand to the back of his neck and held him to her. He pressed his face into the column on her throat and breathed in deeper trying to come down from his adrenalin high. Farah began to scratch her fingernails through the short hair at the back of his head, the soothing motion calming him instantly.

Suddenly starting to feel her body and all its injuries Farah sucked in a little breath and Saul pulled back at the sound, a worried expression coming over his face.

The fairy looked down at her leg to where the worst of her pain seemed to originate from and immediately found out why.

Her pant leg was hanging in bloody shreds from her calf, making it seem like the whole limb had a tear down its entire length. And it was bleeding profusely.

Seeing this the specialist loosened his arms around the woman to clamp down on her leg making her hiss in discomfort.

“It must be from when it swiped at my leg and took me down. Bloody creature. I liked those trousers.” she huffed out in a petulant pout that had Saul snickering at her side.

Still clamping down and looking at her leg he said, “I’ll get you a new pair.” He softly placated knowing full well she didn’t mean one word because their training and combat gear wasn’t exactly Haute Couture.

Huffing out a laugh the fairy pushed back from him a little to throw him a dirty look, “Please. Your sense in fashion is even worse than Luna’s and we both know it.”

Not at all taking offense at her joking, quite the opposite seeing as her brightened mood made him relax even further, knowing she was feeling better already, the soldier took hold of the small pouch he was wearing on his hip and ripped it open. 

Taking out a roll of gauze he passed it to her waiting hands and pulled out some sterile compresses and tore open the packaging with his teeth.

Tutting at this the fairy took the packaging still hanging from his mouth, separated the plastic from the cloth and handed him the dressings.

Pressing down hard on the bloodied limb still in his hands they made quick work of wrapping her leg and securing the bandage as best as they could.

Once they were done, they looked at each other one last time before getting up to help their students.

TBC

Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think :-)


	6. Lay Your Burdens Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting back to Alfea everyone needs to digest the loss they have suffered. Minds reeling Farah and Saul need to evaluate their new position with that new threat hanging over their heads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pheww after this tiny hiatus (😉) I present you guys with my newest chapter and I hope you like where I took the story and its beautiful characters that I love and adore 🥰

Detangling their limbs from each other’s embrace the fairy and her specialist got up off the cold ground supporting each other in the process. Saul more so than Farah seeing as the headmistress was limping badly. 

Trying to keep her upright by putting an arm under her shoulder for stability they went over to meet up with Sky. The young soldier was looking after one of his fellow mates when they approached. 

The young man he was tending to had a deep gash on his arm and they were trying to stench the bleeding. 

Moving to sit next to the injured specialist that was barely even seventeen, Farah let Saul help her sink to her knees in the dirt next to the boy. Looking at him the fairy could feel pain and fear wafting off of the young man. There was a light sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead. “It hurts Miss Dowling.” Nodding she took his injured arm in her hands carefully to take a look at the extend of the damage done to his appendage. Wincing the boy sucked his lip between his teeth and bit down hard. “It’s going to be alright Samuel.” Taking one of the hands holding his forearm to gently lay it on the side of his face the fairy whispered softly “Close your eyes Samuel. Just for a moment dear.” Trusting her implicitly the pupil did as he was told while a few tears passed over his face dripping onto her hand still holding his cheek. 

Farah closed her eyes and concentrated on his frail mind that was as jumpy as a baby rabbit and enclosed his spirit with a soothing energy. He went slack in an instant. 

Encompassing his fear and pain Farah wound herself around the soldiers mental state like a soft blanket. Weighing him down easily she managed to make him lose consciousness within seconds. 

Sagging in on himself she kept her hand on the side of his face, guiding his head to the ground gently. 

Letting out a small breath of relief Farah opened her eyes again. She fixed Sky with a mute glance and motioned for him to give the unconscious boy a vial of Zanbaq now. He would be out cold for at least the way back to the school, which was a relief. 

Farah looked up to decide where to go next when her eyes landed on the fallen woman. Saul followed her line of sight and sighed dejectedly. They had lost a good soldier tonight. It was a loss that would stick with them for a long time, she knew. One more burden to keep them up at night. 

Putting her hands to the ground to push herself up Farah managed to get into a crouching position before she felt Sauls hands slide to her sides stabilising her and helping her get to her feet. She welcomed the assistance and grabbed onto his jacket in the process. Once she was fully upright again she put one arm behind his back and rested her hand on his shoulder while his went around her back to land on her side. 

Slowly they made their way from each injured soldier to the next, giving out orders to prepare for travel and ended their rounds at the fallen woman’s side. 

Sinking down to her knees again the headmistress bowed her head in shame. Feeling Sauls hand on her shoulder as he squeezed she knew what he was thinking. Yes they had fought and yes they had lost but they had also won. Her death wasn’t in vain. She died protecting Alfea and knowing this young woman she knew she would’ve liked knowing they had won and that she died for a good cause. 

It didn’t make the moment hurt any less though. 

Reaching out a hand to hover over the girls head Farah closed her still open eyes as if she were in slumber. She looked peaceful, her face slack and devoid of any pain. It was also how Farah would like to remember her student. 

She took her hand back to her lap and just sat there for a moment. She knew she had to move and had to help her students get back to the school but her mind was just so heavy at the moment that she needed a minute to collect herself before pulling her front back up. Within seconds her stoic headmistress persona was back in place. The strong figurehead everybody could look up to and ask for guidance. 

Reaching her hand up blindly while already formulating a plan in her head she felt Saul grasp her forearm and pull her to her feet once more. 

Slowly they gathered up their injured, each soldier not blinded by pain or unable to walk supporting those who couldn’t walk or carrying those passed out. It was a close fit seeing as they had more injured soldiers than unscathed ones. 

Sky had taken on the first boy they had tended to and had slung him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Walking alongside him were other specialists all in different states of weary trying to support each other in groups of twos or threes. 

Saul had passed Farah over to one of the youngest cadets on their troop to help her with her leg, seeing as she was still not able to fully support it herself. The headmaster had one arm of a severely sliced up soldier over his shoulder and was half carrying half dragging him through the wet foliage. 

By the time they had cleared the edge of the forest the boy Saul had been supporting had collapsed, forcing him to hoist him over his shoulder like Sky had done. 

Upon reaching the courtyard of the school everyone was panting and sweating from the exertion. They managed to bridge the few metres separating them from the greenhouse where Farah loosened her grip on the young specialist helping her and hobbled over to help Sky take Samuel off his shoulders and set him safely on the ground. “I need you to run and get Professor Harvey, Sky.” nodding at the boy one last time he was off. 

Filing into the stuffy greenhouse Saul made to sort the injured by how severely they were hurt. Farah set to grabbing ointments and bandages out of the cabinets where she knew Ben kept his medical supplies. The botanist had prepared a good selection of Zanbaq in varying grades of concentration for different types of application. The headmistress handed out the ones she knew were for oral ingestion to the soldiers still able to walk to give to their wounded mates. At least three of the wounded almost getting knocked out by the dosage were made to lie down on stretchers all around the room. 

With the first round of tranquilliser taking effect the two adults went to work on applying field dressings and administering first aid as best to their knowledge. 

Once Ben arrived with Terra hot on his heels the four of them made quick work on getting everyone treated as best as they could. The patients too wary to move were laid on stretchers to sleep for the rest of the night. The other more mobile recruits were bundled up with a fellow suite mate to go rest in their own beds. 

It took them all a few hours to finish with the last wounded soldiers but they made it. By the time the early morning was beginning to cast its rays through the glass panes of the roof they were all exhausted and Terra had excused herself to get some rest as well. 

Ben had decided to stay with his patients until they would wake. Sky having left hours ago to accompany one of his fellow suite mates to his room. Which left Farah and Saul alone with Ben. 

Their botanist friend had already started on a fresh batch of Zanbaq and was engrossed in his plants, his magic flowing out of his hands and into the flowers like a practiced dance. 

Trying to right herself the mind fairy leaned on a nearby pillar and asked quietly “Will you be alright for the night Ben or should I stay to help you monitor them?” 

Already having started to shake his head the botanist kept on growing his Zanbaq blossoms petal by petal before replying “No you go ahead and retire for the night. Grab a few bottles for that leg of yours.” He didn’t need to throw her a scolding look, she knew he had seen her limp. 

Giving the man a nod of her own she looked over at Saul leaning on a bench and found him already looking at her. He grabbed some rolls of gauze and a few packages of sterile equipment he knew he would need and went over to where she stood. 

Without looking up Ben mumbled loud enough for them to hear “Put some of the green ointment to your left on her side when you change the bandages Saul.” Nodding the specialist grabbed said cup from the cupboard before putting an arm around Farah again to help her walk. 

Throwing a last glance over his shoulder Saul said “Good night Ben” before leading his injured fairy out of the greenhouse into the misty morning air. 

The walk to their quarters was a quiet one as both soldiers were still deep in their own thoughts trying to digest what happened tonight. They would need to figure out a way to deal with their loss in the morning. The young fallen soldier having laid to rest in a back room of the greenhouse for now needed to be sent back to her family. Arrangements needed to be made. But all that was to be decided when they had gotten some rest. 

Upon reaching the door to Farah’s suite, she pushed down the handle and Saul kicked open the door softly before letting it latch into its lock behind them. 

Letting go of his fairy for a moment to set down his utensils on her coffee table he turned back towards her to find her already shrugging out of her vest making her way over to her en suite bathroom. 

Not following yet he made for the door instead and asked loud enough for her to hear “Will you be alright to get out of your gear on your own? I am just going to jump into the shower quickly.” his hand stilling on the doorknob upon hearing her gasp once. He turned around waiting for her reply. “Farah?” he almost yelled. 

“Yes I’ll be fine. I am going to take a quick shower myself.” It was muffled by the bathroom wall but he could still make out her gasps as she was trying to pull off her garments. 

Hesitating a moment longer he wondered “Are you sure?” aloud which earned him a grunt in return. 

He could hear the exasperation in her voice when she replied “Yes! Now stop it with your fretting I’m fine.” 

Smiling a grim smile knowing she was far from fine but also not wanting to start a fight he could hear her shower being turned on the second he stepped out of her door. 

It took him less than eight minutes to be showered and dressed and back at her door. Entering without knocking he locked the door behind him. They did not need any students nosing around today. Not after what they’ve been through tonight. If anyone came looking for them they would have to bring Ben to open that door for them as he was the only other person besides himself that had a key to her suite. 

Walking through the room only stopping for a brief moment to grab the medical supplies he had left on the table he made his way to the open bathroom door. 

Farah was standing in front of a floor length mirror to the left side of the spacious bathroom in nothing but her underwear and a sheer white dressing gown that reached her ankles. The silken material fell softly like it weighed nothing as it fell to the side. Her wet hair was laying in tangles over her left shoulder. She was leaning to the side taking her weight off her injured leg making the gown pool to the left of her, exposing part of her back to him. He could already see bruises forming and smaller cuts from being pushed down by the Burned One marring her body. 

Not looking at him but addressing him over her shoulder she murmured softly “It’s not as bad as it looks. It’s only that bloody leg…” trailing off as she was trying to rub some ointment directly onto the wound at her side she let out a soft hiss. She put her hands down to grasp at the ceramic basin and took in a few shallow breaths trying to breathe through the pain. “What is he putting in these?” she pushed it past her lips in such an irritated manner it made him wonder who she was more annoyed with. Ben, herself or that salve. The latter clattering to the bottom of the sink as her hands flexed in pain. “It feels worse than when it happened. How is that even possible?” she ended her little rant on a softer note still gripping the counter tightly. 

Coming up to her right side that was exposed to his watchful eyes he took stock of the state of her wound. Putting his hands to her side tenderly he grasped her back with one hand and her belly with the other to angle her into the fluorescent light of her bathroom mirror. The wound didn’t look infected which was a relief. 

Grabbing the the cup of salve with one hand and pulling her backwards with him to the toilet he took a seat on the closed lid and positioned her between his legs. Stooping down a little to be on almost an eye level with her navel he balanced the tub on his knee and angled her into the light again. Taking a scoop of Bens green remedy he applied a generous amount to her open skin. 

Gripping his shoulder harshly at the pain Farah grit her teeth and let out a deep groan as the lotion made contact with her tender skin. With her right hand the fairy was still trying to keep her gown from touching her bloody leg that had begun to seep down her ankle and over the floor. They would have to sow that one she noted with bitter chagrin. 

Finishing up on applying the green goo to her wound mutely the specialist took a few wrapped compresses and opened them with steady fingers. Taking out one and pressing it to her side gently Farah took this as her cue to hold them in place. Once every mark was covered with enough padding to withstand her sleeping in it Saul took a roll of gauze and began wrapping it around her slim waist to secure his handiwork. 

Taking one good look down at her leg he puffed out a pained breath before saying “This is going to sting you should sit down.” He motioned for her to take a seat on the edge of the bathtub which she gladly took. 

After she had sat down he took the sterile pre threaded sowing needle and opened the package, laying it in Farah’s lap. He then took her bloodied leg and dropped her foot in his own lap and started on cleaning up the fresh blood running down her leg with a few wet wipes from her bathroom counter. 

Hating the mess he was making already the mind fairy procured a small waste basket with her magic and set it down at his feet for him to drop the soiled wipes into. 

After the most of the mess was wiped off her leg Saul took one of the vials of Zanbaq she had snatched off of Bens infirmary and poured it over the gaping wound carefully. Wiping any excess unguent off with a wipe they both marvelled at how fast the medicine took action. The tissue began to sow itself back together before their eyes making Farah lock her knee in discomfort. But it didn’t close up enough to completely stop the bleeding as Saul had already predicted. 

Taking out the needle and thread from the packaging he set to work on closing up the gash fully. Countless moments like these shared in the field had him sowing back her flesh in less than three minutes. By the time he cut the last thread the woman sitting opposite to him was chewing her lip, a few beads of sweat having formed on her brow. 

Wiping down the remnants of this ordeal Saul covered the now neatly sown up mark with a few bandages and gauze before letting his hands encompass her calf gently. 

Looking up into her face he found the fairy looking at him through unshed tears. He knew those tears didn’t stem from pain but rather from the emotional turmoil she must be going through right now. He knew she was blaming herself for the death of the young specialist. 

Those students were under their care and they were brought up in a time of peace where losing soldiers wasn’t considered a daily occurrence anymore. 

He prayed it would never come to that again but seeing that times were changing he feared it was going to become the new normal for them again. 

As if hearing his thoughts Farah whispered quietly “I had hoped we had left this life behind Saul. I had hoped so strongly that it wouldn’t come to this again.” her voice betrayed her otherwise steady demeanour. Her lips were set in stone only her eyes pooling with sorrow giving away what she was really feeling. It had been so long since they lost the last soldier in arms. 

He had felt the shift too. After 16 years of peace he had felt the onset of darkness coming over them. Draping itself over the school like a heavy burden coming out of the shadows again to haunt them. Looming like a dark figure in the night. 

But that and the other dark figure they had encountered outside the barrier was a topic to be discussed when they were more rested and more settled again. 

For now it was sleep they needed. Sleep and each other’s company because he knew it wouldn’t be in his power to leave her tonight. 

Setting her foot to the ground carefully he discarded the tub of ointment and the first aid equipment on her bathroom counters and grasped her hands in his to help her stand up. Pushing the waste basket at their feet to the side he led the fairy out of her bathroom and into the direction of her bedroom. Farah switched off the lights with her magic as they went, too tired to even bother stopping to touch the switches by hand. 

Upon entering her cozily decorated bedroom Saul took her to the far side of the king sized bed and made her sit down on the covers before turning around and closing the blinds to block out the early morning sunlight with the thick maroon coloured drapes. 

Farah had already taken off her night gown and had made it fly over to its designated hanger by the door when he turned around. 

Pulling down her duvet and bed sheets he helped her crawl underneath the many layers of bed spreads before she got settled on her back looking expectantly back up at him with her doe like eyes. Taking his hand in hers it took only a soft squeeze of her hand for him to know she wouldn’t want to be alone tonight either. 

With a look like that of a cheshire cat coming over his face he jumped up on the bed in an exaggerated manner and began to crawl over her instead of getting onto the bed from the other side. It had her let out a startled laugh as she was trying to push his chest away from her while he was trying his best to keep as much body contact with her as possible. 

Giving his long legs one last shove and giggling to herself in amusement at his antics she rolled onto her side carefully to face him, trying not to put too much pressure on her injuries. 

It wasn’t like them to do this on a regular basis but sleeping together in the same room had become their way of getting through trauma over the years. It had made things easier to overcome for them both. Their bond was strong and it sometimes let them forget about the world around them if only for a few hours if they concentrated on it and each other intently enough. 

Scooting close to her he took her in his arms without any hesitation and she melted into his chest with a soft sigh of pure contentment. Taking the blankets by the edge closest to him he arranged the covers so that they were cocooned by them snugly. Their legs entangled on their own accord all of this having gone over bleeding into muscle memory over the years. His back to the door his mind finally being able to rest a little easier. 

Farah pressed her face into the hollow at his neck, folding her arms in front of her chest in a protective gesture she let her breathing get easier with each lungful of air passing over his stubbly throat. 

Squeezing her to him tightly and running his hands over her back soothingly he murmured “We’re gonna be alright Farah. We’re gonna make it through this, I promise.” Dropping a kiss into her hair he decided to just leave his face there, content in smelling her shampoo and the faint traces of her perfume still lingering in the room itself. Feeling her warmth and her beating heart free of infection at last, he could loosen his muscles taut from a day of fighting and lay his thoughts to rest for the night. Knowing she was safe for the time being. 

At hearing his words Farah pressed a kiss to the place where her lips met his skin and bunched up two fistfuls of his soft shirt into her strong hands before breathing “I know. Thank you Saul.” into the collar of his jumper. 

Almost on the verge of sleep she heard him whisper into her hair “Not for that Farah, never for that.” 

With him there she knew she could rest for a little while, knowing he would have her back. 

As usual. As they had always done. 

TBC 

Thank you so much for reading. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Leave a comment to let me know what you thought.


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